There's No Place Like Home
by Moonlit River
Summary: Note On Hiatus. Hermione hasn't been at Hogwarts for four years, but now that she's back, what will the one man whom she was ever to love do? Chapter Three is up! Please R&R! Any flames will be used on my fire to make s'mores.
1. Prolouge

There's No Place Like Home

Prologue

Autumn, 2008

The woman walked up the pathway to Hogwarts. It had been four years since she was last there, and she had decided to never return. So much for that. This was her home, and there was nothing that she could do to change it. 

The years had shown many changes in her. The once bushy hair was calm, with a little wave to it. She had grown taller; curvier. Her soft chocolate eyes were the only thing the same, with their sparkle of intelligence brighter than ever.

She had come here for two purposes. Profess- no, Albus. He wanted her to call him Albus, now. Albus had asked her to fill the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, which had yet to have a teacher whom could last for more than one year. This was only the cover to the real reason was she was there. He also wanted her to watch over a man so cold that even summer seemed as the most frigid winter day. Possibly even change him.

_Severus..._

She reached the main doors, remembering. He had been the reason she wanted never to return. 

_He could hear the sound of a girl crying. He walked quickly over to where the sound was the loudest. A statue. Gazing behind it, he found the Head Girl curled up into a ball. Hermione Granger. His cold black eyes softened. His left hand reached out to touch her shoulder._

_"Are you all right?"_

_He was startled, as was she, with the gentleness in his voice. Severus Snape was never known as gentle. She looked up to gaze into his eyes, tears streaming down her face. Seeing who it was, she buried her face into her legs, sobs increasing. He made one final decision, and swept his arms around her. _

_Tucking her head under his, he murmured, "It's okay. Shh...shh...It's going to be all right."_

_He kept whispering comforting words to her until she fell asleep, serene._

After that moment, she was too afraid to even look into his eyes. When she did, she felt pain, and suffering. 

She had been lost in her memories for so long, that when the doors opened, she jumped. She calmed down when she saw the familiar long white beard and hair.

With a twinkle in his eye, Albus Dumbledore said, "Welcome to Hogwarts...Professor Granger."


	2. Memories

**There's No Place Like Home**

**Chapter One**

**Memories**

She had never imagined that the Great Hall could look so wondrous. The floating candles were glowing gently, but brighter than ever. The house tables were gleaming from being cleaned recently for the welcome feast.

            Hermione walked over to the Gryffindor table. One evening shimmered into her mind.

_"Hello, Granger," a cold, silky voice said, "Enjoying your Christmas this year? You won't be much longer."_

_            Before she could turn from her dinner to say something to Malfoy, he was gone._

_            "Don't worry, 'Mione," it was Harry.  "He can't do anything to you. It's just empty threats."_

_            "Mm-hm?" She didn't agree with Harry. There was something about Malfoy's tone of voice that told her otherwise._

_When Hermione was walking back to Gryffindor Tower from her usual late night at the library, she saw something hanging from the ceiling in the corridor. Once she saw what it was, she screamed._

_            "Crookshanks! NO!!" _

_            Someone had slit the cat's throat and spooned out his eyes.  _

_            Sobbing, she ran as fast as she could, not watching where she was going._

_            Hermione finally looked up. Seeing a statue, she tossed herself behind it and sank down to the floor, drawing her knees to her chest, crying into them. (something about this sentence seems odd.  I imagine that you mean that she knelt on the floor, and then bent all the way down with her head at her knees – or did you mean that she sat on the floor, and then drew her knees up to her chest?  Not a big deal either way but I got distracted by trying to visualize her exact position). She didn't realize that someone had heard her until they touched her shoulder and said, "Are you alright?"_

_            Surprised, she looked up to see who it was._

_            ~_No! Not Snape! Why does it have to be him?~

_            She hid her face in her legs, hoping that he would go away and leave her alone. Instead, something very strange happened._

_            His arms reached around her, and she found her head on his chest, sobs getting softer and softer until she fell asleep…_

_When she awoke, Hermione was back in her Head Girl room. Looking down, she saw that she was in her light blue nightgown._

            ~How did that happen? How did I even get back here?~

_            "Ah, You're awake," a relieved voice said._

_            Hermione jerked her head around and saw someone who should never,_ ever _be in her rooms. She saw Professor Snape at her door with a tray filled with food. Memories of what happened earlier flashed through her head, and she started to cry again._

_            Snape set the tray down on her bedside table and cupped Hermione's face in his large hands._

            "_What is it? What happened to change your 'I-don't-care-what-anyone-thinks' look? Or your 'I'll-show-you-I'm-strong' one? You_ never _cry. Not even when I or Malfoy lash out at you." _

_            She glared at him._

            _"Why should I tell you? You aren't my head-of-house, only the potions teacher. Get out, or there'll be even more questions about your where your loyalties lie. Don't mess with me, sir, or you_ will _regret it."_

            _When Snape didn't move, she yelled, "Get OUT!"_

_They held a funeral for Crookshanks. All of Gryffindor came to it, even McGonagall. In front of the sea of black cloaks was Hermione. Crying softly behind a black lace veil, she walked over to her beautiful cat's tomb stone. Engraved into it was this:_

Rest here, beloved cat, whose young life was cut off by cruel, thoughtless murder. You live on in our hearts, and our dreams. We love you, Crookshanks.

_After placing her flowers in front of the stone, Hermione was escorted back to her rooms by Harry and Ron, people comforting her as she passed._

_All of this was watched by a dark, looming figure._

Professor Hermione Granger felt a tear trickle down her cheek and quickly wiped it away. She then walked over to where she would be sitting at meals, and sat down. 

She rummaged in her bag for her book, and started to read.

"I see you've come back to Hogwarts, Miss Granger. And you still read books every second of the day. Hmph," the cold voice smirked.

"It's _Professor Granger, now, and you shall address me as such. It's getting chilly in here. I think I'll go a settle in to my rooms. Goodbye, Professor Snape," Hermione said in her coldest voice._

I'm sorry the chapter wasn't so good. I did most of this while in school. The teachers almost caught me! I would like to thank these people for reviewing:

**shadowcat1990:** How is it 'not right'? Do you mean the pairing? Because it's SUPPOSED to be that way. If you don't like it, don't read it. That's all I have to say.

**PixieDust590:** Lol. I think I emailed you the information. If not, just email me and I will tell you. I'm glad you like it so far!

**PottersGirl5990:** I'm glad you think it's interesting, and I hope you will like it.

**leonsalanna:** *grins* I'm glad you won't be givin' me flames. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**LE:** I'm very glad you liked it! I hope the wait for the next chapter won't be too long. I'm half-way done writing it, then my beta-reader has to check it.

**Tropic Of Scorpio:** And I think that's an interesting and creative way of signing. ^_^

**Snapecake:** Thank you for saying please. I'm glad to know someone 'loves' it, so far. ^______________^

I would also like to thank my amazing beta-reader, Kate, for fixing what I messed up in this chapter. *huggles* I'll try to type up the next one soon!


	3. Welcoming and Surprises

There's No Place Like Home  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Welcoming and Surprises  
  
Hermione walked straight to the portrait that guarded her new rooms. It depicted a young shepherdess in a long, yellow, frilly dress and light yellow bonnet with a shepherd's cane; under the bonnet were tumbles of curly golden blonde hair.  
  
"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger. What is yours?" she asked.  
  
The girl curtsied, "Jocelyn, Mistress Granger."  
  
"Well then, Jocelyn, may I please set my password?"  
  
The portrait giggled. "Why, of course, Mistress Granger. What shall it be?"  
  
"Well, I was thinking 'William Shakespeare', really," Hermione said.  
  
"Oh, yes. His writings are quite wondrous, don't you think? My favorite is 'Romeo and Juliet'. What might yours be?" the portrait inquired.  
  
"Well, I truly like 'Othello' and 'Henry V'. They are comparatively interesting. May I go to my rooms, now, Jocelyn?"  
  
"Oh, oh!" She giggled, "Of course, Mistress Granger."  
  
At that, the shepherdess's portrait swung open.  
  
Walking in, Hermione decided to spend a bit of time making it homier. Looking around, she took in her surroundings. There was a comfortable living room with a door leading off to a diminutive work room. The bedroom was slightly smaller than the living room and was dominated by a four- poster bed and wardrobe. There were large windows and fireplaces in both the bedroom and living room, ensuring the rooms wouldn't be unbearably hot in the summer or too chilly in the winter. The bathroom was off the bedroom and, like the rest of the apartment, was small but well-appointed. In each room, the windows were overlooking the lake.  
  
In her typical orderly fashion, she stood near the entry and began at the beginning: the living room. Her encounter with Snape made her feel especially bitter, so she decided to play up her Gryffindor past. At least that settled the question of color scheme: red and gold.  
  
Starting to the left of the door, Hermione looked at the room's draperies and with a swish and flick of her wand, transformed them into swaths of scarlet with minute golden diamonds woven into the material. There was a fireplace between the two windows on the wall to her left which had a lovely grey marble mantle; this she left for the moment.  
  
In front of the fireplace was an overstuffed sofa. She enlarged the piece slightly, making it a comfortable place to stretch out and read. She also transfigured the upholstery, preferring dark scarlet leather. Her fondest memories as a child had been sitting on her father's lap in his favorite leather chair while he read to her. The smell and sound of the leather would remind her of him and the comfort she felt when she was small.  
  
Two comfortable armchairs flanked the fireplace. The only changes to these were to match the color to the drapes. The side tables were in highly polished mahogany and looked perfect with the emerging décor. The oriental carpet between the chairs only needed a little change to the color scheme and she was finished there.  
  
Continuing in a clockwise direction from the sitting area, she walked into the work room. First thing she did was make it larger. The desk was sturdy, but simple, so she transfigured it into a ladies' writing desk. The four walls surrounding the room were not visible for the cause of floor- to-ceiling bookshelves, two of which were already brimming with hefty texts; these bookcases would be perfect for her growing library.  
  
Directly across the living room from the entry was the doorway to her bedroom. She would tackle that room after she'd satisfied herself with the living room.  
  
There was a small bar in the far right-hand corner, where a small wrought iron table and two chairs sat. While she wasn't very fond of the café look, she chose to leave that until she found something she really wanted there.  
  
On the right wall, she changed the wall hanging from the enchanted portrait of an Italian renaissance marketplace into a large tapestry of the Gryffindor golden griffin. She grinned at the thought of how much that would probably annoy Snape. Not that he would ever set foot in here, but the thought pleased her anyway.  
  
Finally coming to the wall immediately to the right of the entrance, she conjured a golden cat claws coat rack, mirror, and small table. She took a look around the room and was pleased with the warm and welcoming feel to it.  
  
Moving toward the bedroom, she stood in the doorway between the rooms. She recreated the living room's window treatments for the one window in the bedroom and draped the bed in coordinating linens that repeated the colors from her former House. Having always wanted a canopy bed, she quickly altered the height of the four posts to the bed and added slats to hold the fabric she swathed over the summit of the frame.  
  
The huge armoire suited her, so she left that as it was. She added a cheval mirror and a chaise in an understated gold fabric. Again, preferring uninhabited tapestries to magical portraits, she changed the art in the room to include two smaller woven pieces that coordinated with the larger tapestry in the living room.  
  
Satisfied with the bedroom, she walked to the bathroom door. The room felt rather antiseptic, with its white ceramic, white marble, and chrome fixtures. She decided that she wanted something warmer, so she changed the stark white marble to a rosy hue. The small claw-footed tub was enlarged and deepened, and she added a hand-held showerhead. That would make dealing with her hair much easier than trying to wash it in the sink. The sink and commode were changed to match the understated color of the marble and all the chrome handles and pulls were changed to a golden color.  
  
She was left with the last thing she wanted to change: the ceiling of the loo. She'd been entranced with the way the Great Hall's ceiling was charmed to reflect the sky and decided that she wanted a similar effect in this room. In fact, she'd originally planned to charm her bedroom ceiling in this way until she realized that the effect would be hidden by the canopy of her bed - and she wasn't willing to forgo the bed of her dreams. Besides, it would be less difficult to charm the smaller space of the bathroom ceiling.  
  
When she first completed the charm, she thought she'd done something wrong since it was dusky. She then realized with a start that she had spent several hours decorating. With a snort at her own foolishness, she quickly prepared for the sorting feast. It would never do to be late for such an important event. The fact that she wanted to make sure she was able to get there before Snape added to her desire to arrive at the Great Hall promptly.  
  
Hermione managed to arrive at the Great Hall in time to claim one of the three remaining seats. She snickered to herself when she noticed that two of the three seats were on either side of Severus. She settled in to watch the nervous first years enter the Hall. She smiled at their awed expressions. They all came up to the front for the sorting and fidgeted nervously as Professor McGonagall carried the Sorting Hat to the old stool placed in front of the Head Table.  
  
Movement from the other end of the table caught her eye and she looked for its cause. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the last seat being filled by a smirking, pale, blond man with silver eyes. Draco Malfoy!  
  
For a moment, Hermione was afraid she was going to faint. Everything in her field of vision seemed to go grey and she couldn't hear anything other than the sound of blood roaring in her ears.  
  
She quickly got control of herself, closing her mouth and looking away before he could notice her discomfort. As she turned back to face the students, she lost herself in another memory.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Hermione was in the Headmaster's office, along with Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy. She sat in a round, squishy chair with her hands clasped tightly in her lap.  
  
"I am sure, Mr. Malfoy, that you know why you are here," The elderly man started.  
  
The young man he was talking to smirked, "Of course I do. The mudblood had it coming, and that beast was annoying the hell out of me."  
  
All Dumbledore could do was stare in shock at Malfoy, while Hermione started to cry. Again.  
  
Snape cleared his throat, "Seeing as you are in my House, and therefore my responsibility, I shall be coming up with your punishments. First of which is that you will be spending three months' detention in the potions lab, cleaning up every inch of it. Without magic. Next, you will apologize to Miss Granger right now."  
  
"Are you fucking kidding me? Like hell I will!" Malfoy roared.  
  
"Then I guess you want five months' detention? I would be very pleased with that, for it would make less work for me," Snape smirked.  
  
"Sorry, Mudblood," the blonde spat out.  
  
"No, that won't work. You must say 'Sorry, Hermione'," Dumbledore said.  
  
"Sorry. Hermione," Malfoy finally said coldly, then whispered an inaudible, "Not."  
  
"Mister Malfoy, the last of your punishments is one hundred fifty house points from Slytherin," Snape said unpleasantly.  
  
"WHAT?!" At that point, Malfoy was so angry that he stormed out of the room.  
  
And no one noticed Hermione sitting quietly, and crying softly.  
  
A few weeks later in January, it was found out that Draco Malfoy had transferred to Durmstrang without any explanation as to why.  
  
~*~*~  
  
When Hermione returned from what she now called the "Past Occurrences", she noticed that the sorting was over, and Albus had just stood up to give his speech. He made the usual announcements about avoiding the forbidden forest, on pain of some gruesome but unexpressed death. Then it was time for the introductions.  
  
"Some of our older students may remember our two newest teachers as they both graduated four years ago. Miss Hermione Granger will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Mr. Draco Malfoy will be our new Arithmancy instructor. I trust you will bestow them the respect all our professors so richly deserve. And now, I believe it is time to eat, so I say: dig in!" And with that, the platters in the Great Hall filled with the most delectable dishes the students had ever seen.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Well, that's it for chapter two! It was definitely longer, ne? My stupid computer was messing up, so ~*~*~ means the beginning/end of a memory.  
  
Kate helped me a LOT in this chapter. I told her what I wanted done, and she typed up some of the story for me. THANK YOU!!! See, I had/have a lot of work to get done, so I didn't have too much time to write this, so...yeah. I'd also like to thank these people for reviewing:  
  
Griselda la fey: I'm so sorry about Crookshanks! It just suddenly came to my head! I was crying after I wrote that part. I don't know if this chapter helps, but I think it will.  
  
No Name: I hope this chapter is long enough for you. I tried my best. And, I actually wanted it to be seven pages on Word, but it was only *checks* five. I'm hoping to make the next chapter even longer, though.  
  
leonsalanna: Eeks! See, this is why I'm so paranoid about people picking my note book up. I have some rather *interesting* stories in it, and I do NOT want anyone to read them.  
  
Well, that's it! Please R&R!! Ja ne!  
  
~*~Rosie~*~ 


	4. Exploding Cauldrons

Chapter Three  
Exploding Cauldrons  
  
Hermione walked into her classroom on the fifth floor corridor. Having already been to it earlier, it was already tuned to what she thought that it should look like. She settled down into her high-backed, black leather swivel chair behind the ebony and mahogany teacher's writing desk. Just as in her workroom, all four walls of the rectangular room were hidden by bookshelves, which were full of massive volumes about Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
Finally, the students slowly started to trickle in. This class was, according to the schedule on her desk, fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins.  
  
~Oh, joy. The Rivalry first thing in the morning.~  
  
As soon as all of the students were seated, Hermione stood up.  
  
"Hello, my name is Professor Hermione Granger. Now, some of you may remember me from your first year here as the Head Girl, but I shall hope that doesn't make you think that I'll let you get away with any nonsense you manage to conjure up. Any fooling around will result in house point deduction, or, if the situation calls for it, detention," she smiled, "I'm sure that none of you would like that, so I expect good behavior." At this she glared at a Slytherin raven-haired boy passing dungbombs to the boy beside him. She sighed and walked over to him.  
  
"Hand them over, stand up, and state your name," Hermione said in an acidic tone to rival Snape's.  
  
Raven-hair did as she said, looking up into her eyes as he talked.  
  
"Alex Redmond, Professor," he smirked.  
  
"Twenty points from Slytherin. Never bring dungbombs, or other such items to my class again. Next time you'll be spending your free time reading and reporting on the four largest texts in my classroom library. You will then not leave until I have seven feet of parchment written on what you read in my hand."  
  
Redmond looked cross, and opened his mouth to retort.  
  
"Sit down. And shut your bloody gob."  
  
As soon as Alex sat down again, Hermione continued her speech.  
  
"In this class, we'll be studying and researching the Dark Arts. To learn how to defend against something, you must first learn how that thing works. So, stand up with your stuff, and I'll tell you where to sit.  
  
As her students did as she asked, Hermione picked up her attendance sheet from her desk, and walked over to the first desk.  
  
"Asaka, Sakura," Hermione called out.  
  
The Japanese girl in a silver and green kimono and obe walked up to the desk, put her bag on it, and turned to Hermione.  
  
"Konnichiwa, Granger-sensei," Asaka said, bowing.  
  
"Hello. Please sit down, Miss Asaka," Hermione said.  
  
"Hai," was the only reply.  
  
The rest of the role call went without incident, but for when Hermione got to Redmond. He strutted to his seat in the third row and sat down, putting his feet up on the desk. That cost Slytherin another five points.  
  
Hermione had the students pull out their DADA books to read the first chapter silently. She then settled into her chair, mind wandering off.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Hermione was in the potions lab, again, working on her research project. She wanted to find a cure for lycanthropy. Her detailed notes, books on the subject, other wizards' and witches' attempts, and potions supplies were orderly scattered on the tables surrounding her. A bubbling jade-green potion was in the cauldron on the center of Hermione's table.  
  
Just as she was about to pour in the next ingredient, the door slammed open to reveal an anxious and flushed Professor Snape.  
  
Hermione's hand slipped on the vial, and all of the blood-red liquid dropped into the cauldron.  
  
Hermione's eyes, as well as the Potions Master's, widened in horror as the cauldron exploded.  
  
~*~*~  
  
At the sound of the memory-blast, Hermione jerked out of her reverie.  
  
"Are you alright, Professor?"  
  
It was one of the Gryffindors, Anna Rose. The entire class was staring at her.  
  
"Oh, ev-everything is fine! Er..write a summary of the chapter you read and have it ready to turn in by Monday. Class dismissed."  
  
The students groaned collectively while picking up their stuff to leave.  
  
Hermione sunk back down into her chair, massaging her forehead.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hiya, y'all! Sorry it took so long for me to update. Life and school kinda ran up and hit me in the head. Just to let you know, I don't write with an outline. Whatever runs around my head screaming, I write down, and if it's any good, I have my beta check it, then I update. If you want something to happen in this story, or have a suggestion, feel free to yell it in my ear. Feedback is appreciated, and I need some ideas for the next chapter, because I have writer's block. My beta hasn't checked this yet, but when she does, I'll re-update with the beta'd chapter. Please R & R!!  
  
~*~Anna-chan~*~ 


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